I came across a reading recently in which the author quoted the late Republican Senator Everett Dirksen. He was Senate Minority leader from 1959 to 1969.
The quote, which Dirksen is alleged to have made about overspending by the federal government, is “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.”
When I first heard that quote in the late 1960s, I didn’t believe Dirksen said it. Why? Because the federal budget at the time he was alleged to have said it (the early 1960s) hadn’t yet broken above $100 billion annually. So everyone would have understood that a billion dollars, let alone $2 billion (a billion here and a billion there) was in itself over 1 percent of the federal budget and so no one would have had to have that pointed out to him or her.
So what would have made more sense, and what I vaguely recall hearing quoted in the late 1960s, when I started paying attention to U.S. politics, is “A million here, a million there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.”
I wanted to use that line in an article a few years ago, but I couldn’t find it. So I called the Dirksen Congressional Center in Pekin, Illinois and was told that the Center had no record of Dirksen ever having said it. This article shows that same Center saying there was no evidence of the billion dollar number either.
What’s my point? My point is that we’ve had what I’ll call “quote inflation.” Let me explain. Compare $1 million in 1960 to the size of U.S. GDP in 1960. U.S. GDP was $543.3 billion in 1960 dollars. $1 million is 0.000184 percent of $543.3 billion.
So apply that same percentage to our current GDP, which is just shy of $26 trillion.
0.000184 percent of $26 trillion is $46.8 million. Round that up to $50 million.
So if you wanted to be faithful to the spirit of the Dirksen quote, if he had said it, you would say today:
$50 million here, $50 million there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.
One billion is 20 times $50 million.
This just goes to show how high a threshold people think is needed to think about government spending adding up to “real money.”
READER COMMENTS
Grand Rapids Mike
Jan 22 2023 at 10:49am
As a retired Fed worker, I know personally the Government is great at spending other peoples money. The real issue is how can Government spending be reduced, when each each program has its constituency. All Fed. agencies know how to defend its budget from cuts or elimination, what is obvious waste to the public is identified as mission critical to the agency. When calling for cuts each agency is adept at bringing forth its Washington Monuments to look like spending cuts are impossible.
As an example, the Department of Energy, starting its birth as the Atomic Energy Agency and Manhattan Project, now has under its wings more than a dozen National Laboratories and funding for non US laboratories. They are scattered around the US with senators and congressmen/women who will never allow redundant labs to be closed.
So the spending will go on and on until the country hits a breaking point, ie the Debt grows to a crushing level, creating a meaningful counter conti.tuency
Mark Bahner
Jan 22 2023 at 1:09pm
And I don’t think the spending of the Department of Energy (DOE) is necessarily the major impact of the DOE. The DOE has myriad standards that it requires various areas of the private sector to conform to:
DOE appliance and equipment standards
Of course, their website touts all the money they’re *saving* for the U.S. economy.
Jose Pablo
Jan 22 2023 at 9:17pm
The real issue is how can Government spending be reduced, when each each program has its constituency
It can’t not be reduced. As a matter of fact it has never been, as documented by Cogan
https://www.hoover.org/research/high-cost-good-intentions-history-us-federal-entitlement-programs
Spencer
Jan 22 2023 at 12:08pm
Look at how we have paid for this indebtedness. We’ve increasingly monetized a larger proportion of it.
Spencer
Jan 22 2023 at 1:05pm
Economics is an exact science. But there’s not an economist alive that knows the GOSPEL.
You have to appreciate the ire of the gold bugs. Bond prices have likely bottomed because monetary flows have now bottomed.
Spencer
Jan 22 2023 at 1:06pm
LOL. Should have been topped.
Andy Weintraub
Jan 22 2023 at 8:43pm
Hi Dave,
I’m a bit older than you are and I remember Dirksen saying just that….a million. He had the most mellifluous baritone voice and was quite the orator – the epitome of what U.S. Senators should be.
Mark Bahner
Jan 23 2023 at 10:22am
Hi,
If you remember where and when you heard him say it, you should contact the Dirksen Center. They can’t find any place he ever said it, and they’ve looked pretty carefully:
Dirksen Center: no luck on that exact statement
The closest they come is this:
Mark Bahner
Jan 23 2023 at 10:32am
I should have read further. One possibility is an appearance by Dirksen on a 1966 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson:
Dirksen on the Tonight Show in 1966
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